Produced by
Roger Frappier, Luc Vandel
Cast
Raymond Bouchard .... Germain Lesage
Dominic Michon-Dagenais .... Jeune Germain
Guy-Daniel Tremblay .... Rolland Lesage
Nadia Drouin .... Simone Lesage
Rita Lafontaine .... Helene Lesage
Roc LaFortune .... Charles Campeau
Réal Bossé .... Denis Lacoste
Guy Vaillancourt .... Claude Larivée
Lucie Laurier .... Eve Beauchemin
Pierre Collin .... Yvon Brunet
This movie was apparently more successful in Canada than LOTR which says something very scary about people from up North. It was lightweight in the lightest way possible; I almost needed to be strapped to my seat in order to avoid floating from the cinema.
The premise is simple; the citizens of Ste-Marie-La-Mauderne have seen better days, a once thriving fishing village, it’s now in the depths of depression, where everyone bar the girl in the post office, the guy in the restaurant and the bank manager are on welfare. The town will get a new factory if they can just persuade a doctor to live there. So they set about seducing the young plastic surgeon sent for a month’s stay, to see if they can’t lie, cheat and beg him to remain.
Despite the obvious comic potential, this movie doesn’t live up to the hype and comparisons to British films such as The Full Monty are generous to say the least. I’d have to be deprived of comedy and living under a rock for many years to put it in the same league as that great film.
The performances are pretty good, but the real problem is the actors don’t have a lot to work with, the script is wafer thin. Research was not high on the agenda. The young Doctor likes cricket and we see him watching a test match with the villagers, but the things he says bear absolutely no relationship to the game I was watching on his telly.
Saying it was predictable is an understatement. Did I think for one moment he wouldn’t stay on? No! Will he get the girl? Yes of course he will, although why the hell a gorgeous woman like her is living on an island of semi-alcoholic fishermen is never really explained.
It’s slickly made, which probably has something to do with first time feature director Jean-François Pouliot’s background in advertising - the cinematography is very polished.
